Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

In April 2009, a few weeks after celebrating the birth of my third child, I discovered a lump in my right breast that was to change my life forever. In the flush and flurry of new parenthood I convinced myself that it was probably a blocked milk duct, or a cyst; and with no history of breast cancer in my family, there was no reason for me to believe otherwise. It was upon the insistence of my husband Steve that I reluctantly booked an appointment with my GP to have the lump examined.

Taking action straight away may have saved my life. The day after my 42^nd birthday, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. It had spread throughout my right breast but luckily not into my lymph nodes. Because it was aggressive (Grade 3), I had surgery, followed by 6 months of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Chemotherapy has some extremely unpleasant side effects – exhaustion and nausea to name but a few. There were many days when I cried, we cried together as a family, trying to come to terms with the big C- Cancer! We struggled to cope.

I want to say that it was the worst time of my life, but it wasn’t. Having three gorgeous children kept me going. If I ever had doubts that my life might be cut short, looking into their expectant little faces quashed these and gave me a steely determination to overcome this illness.

My local cancer hospice- Grove House was a lifeline to me during this time. I attending their ‘Cancer Next Steps' programme; meeting other people affected by cancer, learning how to stay healthy, enjoying good food, complementary therapies and ‘Me-time’.

Life slowly began returning to normal – I went back to work but reduced my hours. My breast cancer has not returned and my prognosis is good.

In October 2011, a group of us will be visiting India to raise money for Grove House. We will spend the first few days volunteering at Global Cancer Care in Delhi, and then move on to the Himalayas to do our trek.

I have always found it hard to ask for help. Having cancer has made me redress that! So I’m asking you now to help me (please) to raise lots of money for Grove House.

I want to thank all the kind people there for helping me and my family when we needed them most. x